The first films were silent. Narratives unfolded through visual storytelling techniques like actor body language, expressions and on-screen text. There is a world, not too far back, where film existed entirely independent of music, separate entities that evolved entirely disparate from one another.
Except this world never truly existed. Films themselves would be silent in nature, but theaters would play live music to enhance the viewing experience. The orchestral swell of a blockbuster originated from the dexterous fingers of a piano player flying over the keys, adapting the live music to match the emotion on screen. A small symphony of strings hung over audiences, haunting the freeze frames of the very first films. As long as there has been film, there has been a musical accompaniment underpinning it, winding and unraveling beneath it all.
In Film x Music, writers from both the film and music beats of The Michigan Daily have delved into this cross section between the two mediums. Whether it’s the soundtrack of a sunny rom-com or a torture-porn slasher, these writers explore the way music shapes film and vice versa, proving just how inseparable the two mediums truly are.
Music Beat Editor Amaya Choudhury and Film Beat Editor Ben Luu can be reached at amayach@umich.edu and benllv@umich.edu, and Senior Arts Editors Lola D’Onofrio and Mivick Smith can be reached at lolad@umich.edu and rmontsmi@umich.edu, respectively.
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